Guest Post by Julia Aziz: Releasing Negative Emotions

 

Whew, it is HEAVY out there! It feels like a hot, thick, dense fog of negative emotions in the collective right now, at least locally where I live in Texas. If you're going with the societal flow, you're probably being fired up and/or pulled down again and again. It takes a warrior's intent to stay centered in this dark time of human history. Even the phrase "stay" centered doesn't make much sense. "Return to center as often as you need to," is my more favored refrain.

To be honest with you, I'm personally feeling strong in spirit lately, as I've recommitted to self-discipline around what nourishes me, like taking a sleep retreat last weekend and setting aside consistent solo time to deeply feel and express my own feelings. Being a person in the world and experiencing my own rough times, as well as listening to so many different experiences other people are having, keeps reminding me of that old Indigo Girls song line, "Darkness has a hunger that's insatiable, and lightness has a call that's hard to hear." In my experience, we can't hear that faint call of the light until we're actually quiet inside. And to get quiet inside, it helps to liberate those insatiable loud and dark feelings that have been waiting to be heard.

I want to share with you a podcast interview I did last fall with Dr. Wendy Bruton. It's about releasing negative emotions in ways that are accessible to most everyone. I'd like to think if we each make space to care for our own vulnerable selves and find the vital strength to re-center, we can help lighten the collective load too. Give it a listen! It's in all the usual podcast places.

[Julia is author of Lessons from Labor.]

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